San Diego woman swims treacherous sound

Let others dive off Dover and swim 21 miles across the English Channel, a feat that according to dover.uk.com has been accomplished by 1,071 solo swimmers.

“It seems like everyone's done that,” said Pacific Beach's Claudia Rose. “I'm a rebel. I want to do something different.”

So last month Rose, a 45-year-old engineer, ventured to southeast Alaska and swam 8 miles across Sitka Sound. She's believed to be the first person to accomplish the feat, which took 4 hours, 36 minutes and entailed braving water temperatures ranging from 52 to 54 degrees while wearing only a one-piece suit and swim cap.

Rose also endured a steady rain that ranged from a mist to a downpour, plus persistent jellyfish.

The jellyfish stings left Rose with blistered scars.

“But they're not anywhere where anybody's going to see them,” Rose joked.

With the jellyfish often stuck beneath her suit, Rose considered changing swimwear in the middle of the adventure. But the cold water and the difficulty of swapping suits nixed that thought.

“It would have been a pain in the (butt),” Rose said. “If I'd have stopped too long, my hands might not have worked anymore.”

Rose's passion for marathon swimming was born, if not out of necessity, out of frustration. Once an avid triathlete, hiker and kayaker, Rose experienced abdominal complications after gall bladder surgery in late 2004.

Scar tissue compressed against her ribs and lungs, making it difficult to breathe. “I was bent over,” Rose said. “I was a mess.”

The pain also caused a burning sensation.

“It felt like a dragon making fire in there,” she said.

Swimming was about the only thing that didn't hurt. Initially after the surgery she swam for 10-15 minutes on her side, stroking with one arm. Four months after having her gall bladder removed, Rose swam 2 miles on her side off Cabo San Lucas.

By the summer of 2006, Rose swam 21 miles across the Catalina Channel.

While Rose had never navigated Sitka Sound, she was familiar with Alaskan waters. Six days before crossing Sitka, Rose completed the 8.2-mile Pennock Island swim, an organized event, for the third year in a row.

Pennock Island is about 30 minutes by plane from Sitka Sound, and the surrounding water is only slightly warmer.

“But no one thought of doing (Sitka),” Rose said.

The organizer of the Pennock Island event, a former member of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club, threw out the possibility of crossing Sitka Sound, and Rose bit.

“I wanted to show you can swim in Alaska,” she said.

Among locals, swimming in the Sitka Sound, where the winter temperature drops into the 40s, had taken on mythical proportions. According to Rose, residents had been told by Coast Guard employees “if you fall in the water, you're going to die.”

Said Rose, “People came up to me and said, ‘I fell in the water, had to wait to be rescued and I didn't die.’ ”

Just as Columbus proved you can sail into the horizon and not fall off the edge of the Earth, Rose demonstrated that while you might get a chilly reception in Alaskan waters, they can be navigated.

Not that it was easy.

“After about an hour, I thought it was too cold and wanted to quit,” Rose said. “Then I slammed into a real big (jellyfish) and I forgot it was cold.”

Of Rose's feat, Ralph Lufkin, who supported her by kayak, said, “Most people would have quit. She's just a real athlete.”